Brake testing means and method for automobiles



Jan. '17, 1933. c. STUKENBORG 1,894,643

BRAKE TESTING MEANS AND METHOD FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed May 27, 1929 3Sheets-Sheet l WW I f n- 1933- L. cv STUKENBORG BRAKE TESTING MEANS ANDMETHOD FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed May 27, 1929 $Sheets-Sheet 2 m CJW/mwmmJan. 17, 1933. c, STUKENBQRG 1,894,643

BRAKE TESTING MEANS AND METHOD FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed May 27. 1929 3Sheets-Sheet 3 0 O Y 0 Ba. 0 O

[Mk/ma Jaw/J G'Jrwmmokq Patented Jan. 17, 1933 STATE PATENT oar-nee ILOUIS c. sruxnnnoae, or MEMPHIS, Tennessee Application filed May 27,1929.

This invention relates to improvements in devicesf'or' testing thebrakes of an automobile and has especial relation to the means andmethods by which an automobile may be placedwith its wheels onsupporting devices on which, or on and by which, the wheels may berotated while the brakes are being tested. It will then be understoodthat this invention relates to the supporting means as distinguishedfrom the testing means proper.

Intesting automobile brakes it is necessary toso support the auto thatthe wheels may be rotated and this is'ordinarily done in one or twoways, first by placing a jack under the axle and raising the wheel clearof the ground and second by supporting the wheel on a pair of spacedrollers which are either left free to turn-, so thatthe wheel maybe-rotated incident-ally turning the rollers,,or' which rollers areturned by the testing device and the wheels" thereby rotated.

Where the axle is supported on a jack and the wheel. left free torotate, the conditions obtained are different from those met withon theroad, in that the weighti's removedfrom the bearings andtheconcentricity of brake ba-nd and drum are altered.

The second of these'methods is not open to this objection since therollers support the wheel and car as the road does, it however hasheretofore been open to the obj ectionthat the wheelmustbe rolled up anincline and over the first roller and then droppedinto the clepressionbetween the rollers. Unless great :are is exercised as this drop ismade, the wheels bounce and-in'many cases throw the car off the. rollersthereby at times damaging the testingdevice, or the car, or both,-andoften involving very considerable trouble in eX- tricating the car. Inaddition to this, where all four wheels are placed for testing at thesame time the forward rollers must be-spaced at exactly the correctdistancefrom the rear one to insure proper testing, the drop of all fourwheels at the same time greatly accentuates the. danger of bouncing, offthe rollers and if either set of wheels bounce olf increasesthe-difficulty of'extricating themachine as wellas the chance ofdamaging it. lr'ftei the I tests have been made, difficulty is SerialNo. 366,135.

again encounteredin removing the car and oftentimes the drop of the rearwheel on to the rollers previously occupied by the front wheels is muchmore troublesome and dangerjustment and this has so far necessarily beendone by digging pits in which the brake adjuster can stand. These pitsin themselves are a constant source of danger from the aforementionedcauses and are not tolerated by all users of brake testing machines.gers and difficulties in either case are so great that few if any ownersare permitted to drive their cars on the tester, the work beingentrusted almost always to operators familiar with the testers.

The present device is intended to obviate the difiic-ulties heretoforeencountered and has among its objects the following:

(a) To provide means for raising anautomobile and placing the wheelsthereof on supporting rollers for brake testing;

(b) To provide means whereby the auto wheels may be placed on rollers ata substantial elevation above ground level;

(0) To provide'means for positioning the supporting rollers directlybeneath the wheels to be tested;

(d) To provide means for restraining the movement of the frames carryingthe rollers when'they are under load; I

(e) To provide meansfor moving both sets ofrollers for either the frontor rear wheels simultaneously into place;

To provide means for removing the auto from the rollers after testing;and

(9) To generally improve the design and construction of such devices.

The means by which the foregoing and other objects are accomplished andthe manner of their accomplishment will readily be understood from thefollowing specification on reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the device with the wheels andaxles-only of an automo- The dan- 65 bile in position as they wouldappear at the beginning of the placing cycle and at the completion ofthe cycle of operations.

Figs. 2 and 2A are enlarged fragmentary side elevations taken in thedirection of the arrow A of Fig. 1, showing the mechanism for moving theroller frames into position.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation on substantially the scale of Fig. 1, showingthe auto positioned above the testing rollers either before loweringthereon or after raising therefrom and showing the supporting rollerscarried on a raised structure.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the wheels of the automobile in similarposition over rollers in a low frame.

Fig. 5 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of a pair of roller framesconnected to form a unitary structure and showing the rollers in theframes.

Fig. 6 is a similarly enlarged sectional elevation taken as on the lineVIVI of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in which the various parts are indicatedby numerals, 10 is an automobile, the brakes on the front and rearwheels 11 and 19. respectively, of which, are to be tested. 18 is theplunger of a hydraulic jack, the cylinder 14 of which is sunk in theground in usual manner and which plunger is rotatable about its verticalaxis. 15 is a superstructure carried by the jack plunger and rotatabletherewith. This superstructure is adapted to engage the axles of 16, 17of the auto, or other portion of the understructure, with the wheelshowever free for rotation and lying outside of the superstructure. Itwill be understood that a hydraulic jack and superstructure are typicalonly and being well known need not here be shown in detail. It willfurther be understood that other types of jack or superstructure may besubstituted for the ones here indicated so long as they accomplishraising, and permit rotation about the vertical axis of the jack.

18 are rollers in pairs spaced apart and lying parallel to each otherwhich rollers are journalled in supporting side members 19. These sidemembers preferably are connected together by transverse channels 20 toform a frame, and together with the rollers mounted therein will bedesignated as a roller unit.

In Fig. 3 the side members 19 are supported by posts or struts :21 andlongitudinal bottom members 22 which members are preferably laterallybraced by channels 23. Journalled in the bottom members 22 are casters24 which roll along the ground or floor level 25 preferably on rails 26or other pathways. Where such pathways are used ordinarily each willcomprise two of the rails 26, spaced apart to conform to the gage of thecasters 24.

The pathways will be parallel and will lie one on each side of the jack13, preferably equidistant therefrom, with. the longitudinal axes of thepathways spaced to conform to the gage of the automobile wheel treads.These trackways may be continuous past the jack or may be interrupted asshown in Fig. 1, since such portion of the trackway is not ordinarilyused in testing. The casters '24 are secured on shafts 27, which inFigsl and 1, are ournalled directly in the lower portion of the sidemembers 19.

The roller frames or units may be shifted by hand along these pathwaysafter the automob le has been raised and aligned with the wheelsthereover. Final adjustment of the positioning of a unit may beaccomplished by means of a lever 28 mounted on a shaft 27 and carrying adouble end pawl 29 either end of which pawl may be engaged with aratchet wheel 30, which is secured to the same shaft, to advance orretract the unit. Normally the pawl 29 is held out of engagement withthe ratchet wheel in order that movement of the unit by hand may not beinterfered with. 29A is a compression spring which bears a ainst the endof an arm 2913 which is integral with the pawl 29 whereby when the pawlis shifted in either direction until it engages the ratchet wheel itwill be held in engage ment therewith by such spring. 31 are stopslimiting movement of the lever 28 and supporting it when the pawl isdisengaged. In Figs. 1 and 5, one pair of the casters 24 of each unit isconnected with the casters of the transversely disposed unit by atransverse shaft 32 which is ordinarily a continuation of the shafts 27.In such case both roller units, for either the front wheels or rearwheels, moves forward or backward in unison and final adjustment of theposition of either unit of a pair places the other unit in properposition. In Fig. 5, the roller units for a front or rear pair of wheelsare not only provided with the cross shaft 32 but are additionallysecured together by channels 33 which may be a continuing portion of thechannels 20 previously mentioned or supplementary thereto as desired. Insuch case a single pair of casters 24 may be used for each unit and asingle rail 26 instead of a. pair of rails before described.

In Fig. 6, bearings 34 independent of the side frames 19 are providedfor the axles of shafts 27 of the casters 2* These shafts in such casepreferably project beyond the bearings and through slots 35 in such.frames. The bearings 34 are carried by arms 86 which are pivotallysecured to the frames 19 as by bolts 37. Disposed immediately above thebearings 34L- are channels 38 between which and the bearings,compression springs 39 are disposed. These springs are made ofsullicicnt strength to support the weight of the units when not underload but of insufiicient strength to support the unit when the autowheel is resting thereon so that when the auto is-in place for thebrakesto be tested theroller unit will rest directly on thefioor surface andbe restrained by frictional resistance from shifting. Such constructionmay be applied to the low units shown in Fig. -1, or to the high unitsshown in Fig. 3, and to units havingfour casters as well as to thosehaving two casters. It will further be understood that inherently it isnot necessary to supply the units with casters although it is believedthat such construction is desirable.

Where the rollers 18 are used for driving the wheels during testing theyare ordinarily longitudinally corrugated as shown and are mounted on andsecured to shafts 40 and 41, these shafts ordinarily carrying sprocketwheels 42, 43 respectively, which sprocket wheels are connected bysprocket chains 44:, and thereby compelled to move in unison. One end ofthe shaft 41 is shown as extended beyond the gear l3 to provide meansfor attaching the tester mechanism, which mechanism not being a parthereof, is not shown.

In using the device the jack is lowered until the superstructure 15rests on the surface of the ground preferably at right angles to therails 26, or other pathways. The roll er units are moved along thepathways outward from the jack to permit ample room for the automobileto be driven over the ack superstructure. Ordinarily when not in use,these units will occupy positions B, C, shown dotted well away frominterference with other uses of the jack.

The auto is driven over the jack with the superstructure 15 lyingbetween the wheels and positioned with the axles about equidistant fromthe jacks. lVhen properly positioned shoes e5 are shifted along thesuperstructure rails under the front axle and a cradle 46 similarlyshifted beneath the rear axle. The auto is then raised to a positionabove the level of the rollers 18 and the superstructure is turned aboutthe vertical axis of the jack until the wheels are longitudinallyaligned over the track-ways. The roller units are then shifted directlybeneath the wheels and the jack lowered until the entire weight of thecar is supported by the rollers. Either of the units may then be shiftedsuch amount as may be necessary to give full bearing of each wheel onits supporting rollers, such final adjustment is made by the ratchetarm28 and associated parts. When the weight of the car comes on therollers the springs 39 compress and substantially the entire weight ofthe auto is effectively to press the base of the roller units againstthe ground or floor surface effectually anchoring the units againstmovement.

The wheels when in place on the rollers, occupy the dotted position 11D,12D, respectively. Since there is no necessity of the wheels liftingthemselves out of the clepression between the rollers by their ownPQXVGTl-t re rollers maybe spaced as far apart as: may be desiredprovided only that such spacing does not allow the brake parts of thewheel: to contact with the roller frames. In Fig. 6, the dotted line Eindicates the depth to whichthe wheel may be allowed to come. Such deepplacing of the wheel between the rollers effectually prevents the wheelfrom climbing when the rollers are being driven under test conditions,and to a large extent minimizes the necessity of anchorage during thetests. After the brakes have been tested the automobile is again raisedby the jack, turned to clear it from th roller units and lowered untilthe wheels rest on the ground surface-after which it may be driven awayin usual manner.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In means for testing automobile brakes, a vertically disposed jack,a. superstructure carried by said jack, to support an automobile ferraising, turnable about said jack axis,

said superstructure engageable with the understructure ofthe automobile,and when raised leaving the wheels free, parallel pathwavs-spaced apartto conform to the wheel. e of the automobile, disposed one on each sideof said jack, and wheel supporting rollers rotatably mounted, movablealong said. pathways toward and away from said jack, whereby an auto maybe positioned over said: superstructure, substantially at right anglesto: said pathways, be raised by said jack, and be aligned withits'wheels over said pathways; said wheel supports be moved along saidpathways each to a position beneath. a wheel, said auto be lowered andsup.- ported thereon, and, after testing he raised and: removedtherefrom.

2. in means for testing automobile brakes, a. vertically disposed jack,a superstructure carried by said jack, to support an automobile forraising, turnable about said jack axis, said superstructure engageablewith the ruiderstructure of the automobile, and when raisedleavmg thewheels free, parallel path ways spaced apart to conform to the wheelgageof the automobile, disposed one on each side of said jack andsubstantially equidistant therefrom, and wheel supporting units movablealong said pathways toward and away from said jack, said units each comprising a frame, and a pair of rollers trans.- verse to said pathwaysand spaced apart, whereby an auto may be positioned over saidsuperstructure, substantially at right angles to said pathways, beraised by said jack, and be; aligned with its wheels over said pathways;said supportingunits be moved along said pathways each to a positionbeneath a wheel, said auto be lowered and supported thereon, and after.testing be. raisedand removed therefrom.

3. Inmeans. for supporting an auto. for

brake testing, units each including a pair of side frames, parallelrollers spaced apart journalled in said frames, bearings carried b saidframes, shafts journalled in said bearings, an end of one of said shaftsprojecting heyon d its bearing and frame, casters mounted on and securedto said shafts, a ratchet wheel secured on said shaft end, aratchetlever oseillatably mounted on said shaft adjacent said wheel, anda double ended pawl carried by said arm and optionally engageable withsaid wheel to rotate said caster and shift said frame.

4. In a brake tester, means for raising an automobile with the wheelsfree, and supporting same for rotation about a vertical axis, wheelsupporting units in pairs spaced transversel apart to conform to thewheel spacing of an auto, each unit comprising a frame and a pair oftransverse and parallel rollers spaced apart and journalled in saidframe, said unit pairs being manually movable toward and away from saidvertical axis, whereby said auto may be raised and rotated with the whees into the path of said units, and thereafter said units be moved towardsaid jack to position totem under said wheels, and said auto be loweredinto supported position on said rollers.

5. Means for supporting an auto for brake testing including meansrotatable about a vertical axis for rais ng; an automobile with thewheels free, parallel pathways spaced apart to conform to H c wheelgauge of the automobile, disposed one on each side of said Verticalaxis, and wheel supporting units disposed on and movable along saidpathways, said units each comprising a frame and a pair of parallel.rollers, spaced apart and journalled in said frame; whereby an auto maybe raised and positioned with its wheels over said pathrays and saidwheel supporting units be moved along said path-ways, each to a positionbeneath a .vheel and said auto be lowered and supported thereon.

6. In means for supporting an auto for brake testing, units eachincluding a pair of side frames, tra sverse members securing said framestogetlt r, parallel rollers spaced apart journalled in said frames,arms, having: each an end pivotally attached to said frames, casters,each carried by the free ends of a pair of said arms and compressionsprings disposed b0 .veen said bear ngs and members of said fran urgingst id bearings downward, said so ugs beIng compressible under load toperm, said frame to rest directly on the floor.

7. In means for siu'iportin r an auto for brake testing, units eachincluding a pair of side frames, parallel rollers spaced apart,journalled in said frames, bearings carried by said frames, shaftsjournalled in said bearings, casters mounted on and secured to saidshafts, an end of one of said shafts pros Q'nature.

LOUIS C. STUKENBORG.

